Snapdeal to hawk Modi govt's LED lamp scheme at Rs 99

You can now snap one up at Rs 99 with a few clicks of the mouse, with the government joining the e-tail bandwagon to take its Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme to people’s doorstep.Sanjay Dutta | TNN | February 02, 2016, 08:20 IST

NEW DELHI: You don't have to worry about burning a hole in your wallet for LED (light emitting diode) bulbs. You can now snap one up at Rs 99 with a few clicks of the mouse, with the government joining the e-tail bandwagon to take its Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme to people's doorstep.

Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL), a special purpose vehicle formed by state-run companies under the power ministry, has tied up with Snapdeal, one of the major online marketplace in the country, for selling these energy-efficient bulbs.

EESL is implementing the Narendra Modi government's programme to financially assist consumers to replace less efficient CFL or incandescent lights with latest LED bulbs. The scheme is aimed at saving thousands of crores for consumers and reducing demand as well as carbon emission.

A tie-up with Snapdeal would help the government to expand its marketing and distribution reach across over 5,000 cities and towns to push use of LED bulbs beyond DELP.

The tie-up comes on the back of prices dropping to Rs 64.41 each, excluding taxes, for a 9w bulb from existing Rs 73, in a procurement tender for the scheme in Madhya Pradesh.

EESL has so far distributed nearly 5.6 crore bulbs. This has resulted in saving daily peak demand of 1,735 mw - or nearly a third of Delhi's consumption - amounting to daily cost saving of over Rs 7,000 crore and reducing greenhouse emissions equivalent to 16,092 tonne of CO2.

The government wants to replace all the 77 crore incandescent bulbs sold in India with LED bulbs. This would result in reduction of 20,000 MW load, energy savings of 105 billion units and reduce greenhouse gas emission equivalent to 80 million tonnes of CO2 every year. The annual saving in electricity bills is estimated at Rs 40,000 crore, considering an average tariff of Rs 4 per unit.